


sour candy

by spacegayofficial



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Other, Reder Insert, but also rivals to idiots (sorta) to lovers, essence of smut (not explicitly described), just like tooth rotting sickeningly sweet fluff, thus the mature rating not the explicit rating lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:01:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24556618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacegayofficial/pseuds/spacegayofficial
Summary: Your relationship with Din Djarin is nearly impossible to define. Until the day it's not.Inspired by, but ultimately completely tonally different from, Sour Candy by Lady Gaga and BLACKPINK off of Lady Gaga's new album Chromatica
Relationships: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/You
Comments: 3
Kudos: 68





	sour candy

**Author's Note:**

> I encourage you to listen to Sour Candy before you read this, but it's certainly not required for you to understand what's going on in the fic. Like I said in the summary, it ended up being totally tonally different from the song, so slkjdfg

Defining the relationship between you and Din Djarin was nearly impossible. You wouldn’t even call it a friendship sometimes, but you… blew off steam together, but you sometimes found yourselves joking around with each other. You were honestly more similar than you’d like to admit to yourself; two expert bounty hunters with a past you refused to talk about and trust issues.

Your partnership started off extremely rocky, to say the least. You had been somewhat aware of each other, both being in the Guild and working out of Nevarro, but had never really crossed paths. That is, other than what Greef would tell you about him, and him about you. What jobs you’d done, what jobs he’d done, how quickly, how much the jobs were worth. Whether or not he intended it, it started a bit of a competition between the two of you, and you hadn’t even spoken to each other yet. That was, until a particularly tricky job came up, and Greef decided it was best for you two to work together. This was highly unusual, and neither of you were particularly thrilled with the idea of having to split the bounty once it was all over. It was a big one, too, so while half was plenty of money, the whole lot would have you set for a while. Vacation sounded awfully nice.

The job started, and he barely spoke a word to you. Normally this wouldn’t bother you, you were fairly quiet yourself, not speaking to bounties any more than you needed to, not speaking to anyone more than you needed to, but when you were alone, and it was safe? You needed noise, you would listen to music and sing to yourself, talk to inanimate objects sometimes, that kind of thing. Traveling with Mando, though? You could admit to yourself he was intimidating, but the fact that he had you intimidated out of doing your normal thing had you irritated. If you’re both going to be trapped in this piece of junk ship that Mando had insisted you take instead of yours, you could at least  _ try _ to be civil with each other.

But, the job went off without a hitch… until the very end. At the very end, you took a bad hit, and you were sure you weren’t going to make it. You’d been shot in the shoulder, which in and of itself wasn’t a big deal, but this had knocked you off the roof of a building you’d been hiding on top of. Something was broken, you knew that, but everything hurt too much for you to specify where. You were bleeding, you could barely get a full breath in, and you figured you were too much trouble for your partner to worry about. After all, if you were dead, he could have the entire bounty to himself. The pros far outweighed the cons.

Then you felt him pick you up over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry, and you opened your eyes to see he had the bounty in cuffs, bloodied and limping, walking in front of him.

“Wh… what are you doing?” you wheezed out, your head bumping against his beskar pauldron, making you wince slightly.

“What does it look like?” he answered, gruffly, a tone that sort of made you think he didn’t  _ want  _ to be doing this.

You felt a pang of disappointment for some reason. You had hoped he was doing this because you were growing on him, not because he felt obligated to. You shouldn’t be disappointed, though, considering that was what made sense given your partnership.

You made it back to the ship, and he set you down on the edge of your cot, and you fell back into it, still struggling for breath. Hitting the ground had knocked the wind out of you and you were still struggling to catch it. You feared maybe you’d broken a rib and it had punctured your lung. You heard the hiss of the carbonite chamber, and quickly, Mando was back next to you, getting you into a slightly more comfortable position so he could help patch you up.

“Why didn’t you leave me?” you asked quietly, gasping as his fingers pressed into a spot on your left arm that hurt like crazy. Must be the break.

He didn’t answer, but his body language told you he wasn’t sure of the answer himself. You sighed a bit, and looked up to the ceiling of the cargo hold you’d set your cot up in. He looked over you again, to see if there were any other more pressing injuries. Seemed the most important at present were your shoulder and your broken arm.

“Hold on, don’t move,” he said, gentler than you had ever heard from him since you’d been on this job with him.

He got up and grabbed a medkit, taking out some bacta, bacta patches, and a syringe; likely a bacta shot. You watched as he came back and set up beside you again. He hesitated, unsure what to do first. You sighed, and took it upon yourself to take your right arm out of your shirt so he could get to the wound on your shoulder. You weren’t thrilled this meant most of your torso was exposed to this man you didn’t care for too much, but it had to be done. You furrowed your brow as he took off his gloves. You weren’t sure if he was allowed to show any skin at all, but evidently he could. He just chose not to most of the time.

You chalked it up to the confusion and pain you were in, but butterflies erupted in your stomach as his bare fingers touched your arm again. You let out a pained groan as his fingers dug into where the break was, just above your elbow. He pulled away for just a second, and you heard plastic hit the floor somewhere.

“This isn’t going to feel good,” Mando warned. He then injected the bacta shot in the break, making you cry out and tears start to sting in the corners of your eyes; something you’d be embarrassed about later. You weren’t supposed to show weakness like that, especially not to him. Of course, you didn’t know it, but he was blushing furiously when you took your arm out of your shirt, showing him that much skin.

After a few moments, he pulled the needle back out, and got to work cleaning up and dressing your shoulder. After he was done, he helped you put your arm back in your shirt. You were starting to feel a little woozy, a little sleepy, but  _ good _ , and you knew the bacta shot was working. You looked up into his visor, and like he knew what you were trying to convey, he nodded.

“I’m going to set this, are you ready?” he asked quietly.

A stupid smile spread across your face. You nodded. Why were you smiling? This was going to hurt like a--

You thought the bacta was in full effect at this point, but the scream that rang through the Razor Crest told a different story. You thought you were going to black out, and pain never got to you that bad. Of course, it was over as soon as it started, the shot dulling the edges and making the pain fade sooner than it would’ve otherwise. You took a minute to catch your breath, recovering from what just happened. There was a moment where both of you were still, quiet, trying to take stock of everything that just happened.

Eventually he moved, reaching into his kit and pulling out a sling for your arm. Once it was secure, he pulled his gloves on, then stood. “Get some rest,” he said, a tone you could have sworn was kind, but again, you were probably misinterpreting a lot of things thanks to the bacta shot.

Before he got too far away, you spoke. “Thank you, Mando,” you said. “I owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he responded, before disappearing up the ladder and into the cockpit.

That night, you finally admitted to yourself you sort of liked working with Mando. You hoped that wasn’t just the bacta shot talking, but you almost kinda liked him. Not like that, though you couldn’t deny those butterflies you got when he touched you with his bare hand. So maybe like wasn’t the right word. Appreciate? That was more like it.

The day after, when you’d gotten some rest and felt more yourself, you asked yourself if you really did like working with him. The answer was yes. You did. After thanking him again for not leaving you behind and patching you up, you voiced this to him.

“I… didn’t think I would, given I’ve worked alone for a long time, but… I do enjoy working with you,” you said slowly. “I don’t expect you to, but I hope you feel the same way. Maybe we could… work together?”

He considered you for a long moment, and you shifted under his stare. Even though you couldn’t see his eyes, you knew they were staring right into you. You swallowed.

“Welcome aboard,” he finally said, and your heart skipped a beat. He really just agreed to that. There was another pause. “That’s why I didn’t leave you behind.”

You smiled softly. “Thank you,” you said again.

“And… it’s Din,” he said.

“Hm?”

“My name. It’s Din Djarin,” he said. “Don’t tell anyone.”

So that was that. You were Din Djarin’s partner. And you two kicked ass as a team, job after job after job. To the point Greef had to cut you off a few times, which you both didn’t like, but it was what it was. Over that time, you did grow closer, but he kept his quiet, intimidating demeanor the vast majority of the time. You were still more comfortable doing your own thing around the ship, though, and felt less like he was judging you. More like he was just… putting up with your antics, which you could live with.

Of course, you had your bad days where you couldn’t agree on how to handle a job, or something would go wrong and you wanted to throw blame at each other. Like any relationship, be it business or friendship or romantic or whatever, it wasn’t perfect. You didn’t enjoy fighting, partly because he was more likely to give you the silent treatment for three days straight than actually talk about it, but partly because you didn’t want anything to happen to this partnership you’d created.

With the bad moments, though, you had good ones, too. Moments where you’d be hanging out in the cockpit while you were in hyperspace and joking with one another. And dammit, Din was funny. It was a dry, particular sense of humor you were sure you only understood because you’d been working together for a few months now, but it was still there. There were moments where you found yourselves comforting each other, whether it be from just a bad day, the occasional nightmare, or… whatever. It was nice. You could be vulnerable with each other.

The contrast is what made your relationship with him so frustratingly difficult to describe. That and… the other facet to your relationship. The whole blowing off steam thing.

It wasn’t a good day. Both of you were in a weird mood, and while you were sure he started it, he would insist it was the other way around. You were being weirdly competitive, trying to one up each other, distract each other just enough that you could get the winning blow in while you were on a job. The job got done, and you raced to be the first to cuff the quarry. You won that little contest, and felt like that meant you’d won the entire day. That feeling paled in comparison to how Din made you feel just a little while later.

You got back to the ship, put the quarry in carbonite, and smirked over at Din, who was leaning against the wall nonchalantly. Well, he was trying to be nonchalant, but you could tell he was… feeling something about today. Irritated? That’s all you could imagine. Well, it was, until in a blink of an eye he had stood upright from the wall and pinned you to the one you were closest to. His thigh was wedged between your legs, one gloved hand had your wrist pinned beside your head, and his other hand went from splayed flat against your chest, keeping you up against the wall, to gripping your chin between his thumb and forefinger making you look up at him. You were initially startled by this, just the sudden movement, and how close he was to you now. But if you were being honest with yourself, this tension had been growing between you two for a while.

The night you had was incredible. Rough, full of teeth and scratching nails and pulled hair. You were blindfolded, which ended up not being as much of a disadvantage as you thought it would be. You were always too wrapped up in each other for it to matter. You knew you both would be covered in bruises and bite marks and hickeys the next day, and you were going to feel it. Through the course of the night, Din came twice, and you did  _ five times.  _ You hadn’t had a night like that in eons.

Unfortunately, though, the next morning was… awkward. You didn’t want it to be. But it felt like Din was avoiding you, like he regretted doing that with you. And you understood. Maybe it was an impulse and upon further thought, he didn’t want to pursue it anymore. Fair enough. People make mistakes. You just were hoping you wouldn’t fall into that category for him.

But then things got better, again, and you were talking normally, and the awkwardness subsided. You never brought it up, assuming he wouldn’t want to talk about it, so you were very surprised a couple days later when he apologized for avoiding you. He explained he had misread your own reaction the next morning and made some of his own assumptions. He made it up to you by asking if you’d want to do it again, maybe more frequently.

Of course, you agreed. So that was now part of your bizarre relationship with Din. You weren’t friends, you weren’t lovers, but you were more than business partners, and sometimes you wanted to kill him. Nonetheless, you fell into a comfortable rhythm with each other, and your partnership lasted much, much longer than you had ever dared to imagine it would.

The longer it went on, though, the more you hated this gray space you were in.

The better you got to know him, the fewer and further between the bad days were, the more you… started feeling something for him that honestly scared you. The first time you felt it you thought you were getting sick. The second time you felt it you realized it was something you felt when you managed to make him laugh, the only time you knew for sure he was smiling. The third time you felt it was when he kissed you gently one morning after yet another wild night. It took until that third time to realize what you were feeling was love, and you went from scared to terrified. There was no way you could tell him that. There was no way he felt the same. There was no way he would be okay with this. So you had two choices; live with it, or leave. Simply thinking about leaving made you want to cry, so you chose to live with it. It hurt sometimes, but you managed.

And that brought you to the present, right around a year and a half into your partnership.

You were at a market, stocking up on supplies for the first time in a few weeks. Typically you avoided getting frivolous things for yourself while you were out, never knowing when there might be an emergency and you’d need extra cash, but you figured you could spend the entire one credit to buy some of your favorite candy. You hadn’t had this stuff in forever, and you know what, you worked hard, you deserved it, be it one credit or one hundred.

You were one of the very few who actively enjoyed this candy. It was a hard candy that got more and more sour as it melted away. And it got  _ sour _ , like, you would trick people into eating them and see how long they could last before they had to spit it out sour. Not everyone could handle how sour it got. You were one of the few who not only could handle it, but liked it a lot. You had a very fond memory of discovering the candy, and subsequently getting sores in your mouth from eating so many of them.

You got back to the Razor Crest with Din and helped him put away your newly purchased supplies. You were in good moods tonight, thankfully. Putting things away was full of conversation, joking, a little teasing. It was nice. Once everything was put away, you both ate dinner (separately, of course, since he couldn’t show you his face), then settled into the cockpit so you could begin traveling to your next destination. You pulled out your back of candy and popped one in your mouth. Din heard the rattling of the candies in the bag, and turned around to investigate.

“What are those?” he asked.

“Just some candies,” you said. You glanced down at the bag. These candies were a very distinct color, and even though they were round which was a pretty common shape, anyone who knew what these candies were would be able to identify them from their appearance. A smirk threatened to play on your face, but you turned it into a smile. “You haven’t had these before?”

Din shook his head. “Can’t say I have.”

“Here, try one,” you said innocently, holding the bag out.

“You sure? You bought them,” he said.

You shook the bag. “Take one!”

“Alright, alright, geez,” he teased, and took one of the candies. You really hoped your poker face was keeping up, because this was going to be absolutely golden. “Close your eyes for a second.”

You did so, covering them with a hand for added security, so he could momentarily lift his helmet up to pop it in his mouth. Once he gave you the okay, you opened your eyes again.

“Good, right?” you asked, knowing it would be sweet for a little bit yet. You couldn’t help but grin as Din nodded a bit.

“Yeah, it’s really sweet,” he answered.

“That’s… generally how candy is,” you responded. “You don’t have sweets very often, do you?”

“No, not really,” he said. “Growing up, either we couldn’t have any because it wasn’t healthy, or we couldn’t afford it. Just never developed much of a taste for them.”

You hummed. “Well, these are some of my favorites. I haven’t had them in a long time,” you explained.

Din nodded again, and turned his attention back to the control panel. “Oh, it’s… kinda sour,” he said after a bit.

“Yeah, they start sweet then get sour,” you responded, your smile spreading across your face even wider. You were glad he wasn’t watching you right now. Let the fun begin.

Just a few seconds after that first observation, he spoke again. “Does it get… more sour? I think it’s getting more sour,” he said, flipping a couple switches. He wasn’t caving, yet, and honestly you were pretty impressed. It got pretty sour pretty fast.

“Mm, yeah, a little bit,” you lied, shrugging. You had already finished your first one, and decided to have another. “It’s good though.”

A little bit more time went by.

“Kriff, this is really sour,” Din cursed. You stifled a laugh.

Another few seconds…

“Kriff! Close your eyes again, close your eyes,” Din said quickly, his voice strained. He waved his hand in the air as he spun the pilot’s chair around, and you burst out laughing finally. You covered your eyes, though they were already squeezed shut as you laughed, so he could move his helmet out of the way to spit the candy out.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, his attempt at sounding annoyed almost completely concealed by amusement, and his own small chuckle. He put his helmet back on as he spoke. “You can open your eyes again.”

“It just gets more sour as you eat it, a lot of people can’t eat the whole thing,” you explained, opening your eyes and grinning at him. “I couldn’t believe you hadn’t had these before, I had to see how long it would take before you had to spit it out. You lasted longer than I expected you to.”

“Did I now?” he asked, a teasing, flirtatious tone to his voice.

You laughed again, for a while, and Din started laughing with you, and that goddamn feeling flooded through you again. After a bit, you calmed down some, and caught your breath. This was nice. This is what you liked about working with him.

“I love hearing you laugh,” Din said.

_ Din _ said.

Your breath hitched, and you felt your cheeks heat up a little bit. You smiled all the same, hoping he didn’t notice your breathing.

“I… love hearing yours, too,” you responded. “Din, I--” You cut yourself off before you could make a fool of yourself. Sure, you’d been partners, not friends, not lovers, but something, with him for more than a year, you felt you could tell him anything at this point, but telling him you loved him? That was too much. Wasn’t it?

You saw Din inhale like he was going to speak, and then pause. But then he did speak, and you thought you were going to faint.

He said it like he was just figuring it out, like he was answering a question you’d just asked, and he was afraid to get it wrong.

“I love you.”

You launched yourself out of the co-pilot’s chair and into Din’s lap, wrapping your arms around him, burying your face in the fabric that covered his neck. Despite yourself, you felt tears welling in your eyes; they were happy tears, but you couldn’t hold them back.

“I love you too,” you said, lifting your head away and smiling at him, doing your best to look in his eyes through the visor. “I’ve loved you… for a while, now, if I’m being honest.”

“Me too,” Din admitted, relief in his voice.

“Well then why didn’t you say something earlier, silly?” you asked, laughing a little bit. You pressed your forehead to his helmet, and he took your hands in his.

“I could say the same for you,” he said, that slightly teasing tone in his voice again.

You stayed in his lap like this for a while, but you could practically hear the gears turning in his head as you did. He played with your fingers, which gave him away. He only fidgets like that when he’s thinking about something.

“What is it?” you asked.

“I… I want to show you something,” he said.

You furrowed your brow. “Show me what?”

He took a deep breath, then brought your hands to the side of his helmet.

“Din,” you gasped, your arms stiffening, not wanting him to break the creed he swore.

“It’s okay,” he assured you. “I promise.”

Truth be told, and not that you could really tell, he was nervous. No one had seen his face in decades, and he had no idea how you’d react. What if you didn’t like what you saw? What if, after that moment you just had, you came to regret it? You weren’t like that, though. There could be anything under that helmet and you wouldn’t care. You’d still love him all the same.

You both lifted his helmet from his head, slowly, like you were diffusing a bomb. Move too fast and the moment would fall apart. First, you saw a strong jawline, and short stubble. Then his lips, which looked as kissable as you knew they felt. His nose, which was prominent and unique, and you immediately fell in love with. Then his eyes. The deep, beautiful brown of his eyes captured you, and you practically forgot how to breathe. The helmet clattered to the ground, and you took his face in your hands, still staring into his eyes. He looked nervous, now that you could see it.

“Din,” you said, breathlessly, a smile spreading across your face. “You’re perfect.”

He was. You finally took your eyes away from his for a moment to see his hair was a mess from being in his helmet, and you took one of your hands from his face to run his fingers through it. Brown, as you had predicted. He watched as you studied his face, in awe that you called him  _ perfect _ . If anyone here was perfect, it was you, he thought.

Finally, you pulled his face to yours and kissed him, first on his lips, then all over his face; his cheeks, his nose, his forehead. Your smile didn’t fade for a second, didn’t falter. You loved this man. Completely, truly, absolutely.

“I can see why you keep yourself hidden from the rest of the universe,” you teased.

Din looked… hurt, almost, for a fraction of a second before he realized you were joking.

“Because you’d have people all over you, have to fight them off with a stick,” you finished, kissing him again.

He laughed quietly, and you saw him  _ smile _ , and you felt that heart-stopping, stomach-turning, sickeningly sweet feeling flood through you again, stronger than ever before. He did this for  _ you, _ made an exception to his creed for  _ you,  _ showed you everything because he  _ loved you. _ You’re not sure when you stopped crying earlier, but you started again, your vision blurring with tears. You smiled back, which made him smile a little wider. It was the best smile you’d ever seen, making his eyes crinkle at the corners, his beautiful, captivating brown eyes.

“Maybe I should buy candy to share with you more often,” you said, chuckling softly.

Din laughed again. “Well, as long as it’s not like those,” he responded. You’d heard his voice without his helmet in the way before, when you’d been blindfolded, but for some reason hearing it now, and being able to see his mouth move with his words… it made it all that much better.

“Deal,” you said, kissing him again. You may never be able to stop at this rate.

He kissed you back, and… it didn’t get _ heated _ , exactly, but it did get more intense, more passionate, deeper. Eventually, Din wrapped his hands around your thighs, picking you up as he stood. You wrapped your arms around his neck from cradling his face so you wouldn’t fall, wrapping your legs around him as well for added support. He descended the ladder from the cockpit at an angle, which was kind of awkward for both of you, and you both laughed, but made it to the hold safely. He laid you down on his cot, then immediately leaned back to start taking off his armor. You sat up.

“May I?” you asked, almost timidly. You’d only helped him do this a few times, and it was really only when he was injured. Any other time you were blindfolded and fumbling, or he did it himself.

“Please,” Din encouraged you. You scooted forward, and helped remove pieces of his armor, handing them over to him so he could stack them safely out of the way. They were heavy, and you assumed they would be, but you were suddenly glad that wasn’t a weight you had to carry around on you all day every day.

Once the armor was out of the way, you reached slowly for his shirt, pulling the hem up just a bit, exposing a bit of skin. Again, you’d seen some of this, but really only when he was injured. Not like this. Your fingers spread over his warm skin, and his breath hitched, and you smiled. You lifted it the rest of the way off, tossing it over where he’d stacked his armor, and planted your hands on his chest, feeling over it. It was soft, smooth, but his sides and other areas not covered by the armor were also littered with scars, and you traced over them reverently. Sure, you were both top class bounty hunters, and you had your own fair share of scars, but these felt… different. Earning these was harder on him. Deeper.

Gently, Din pushed you back, and kissed you softly, his hands finding their way under your clothes, pulling them off of you, tossing them to the floor. This was unlike anything you’d had with him before. Usually, this was rough, all tension, frustrations that needed to be worked out. Not this time. This time, it was soft, and sensual, and slow. You and Din Djarin made  _ love _ , and you were sure you would never need anything else. Not if you had this, not if you had him.

Maybe you didn’t cum five times, maybe you weren’t covered in bruises and bite marks, but this felt… different, not better, but close to it. Warmer, closer, more intimate. Full of I love yous and soft moans and praises. It was… it was perfect.

And after, you stayed in his bed, and he pulled you on top of him, and you were still full of him, and you never wanted to leave. If you died right now, you’d die happier than you’d ever been. Your favorite candy was your favorite now for an entirely different reason. Din pressed another kiss to your lips, which still tasted slightly of that sour flavor. He would admit that he very much liked that taste, just not the very center.

“I love you,” you said, for the millionth time that day.

“I love you, too,” he responded, and it felt like the first time over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! Come hang out and say hi over at spacegayofficial on tumblr!


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